Our estates team works alongside our tax, superannuation and estate administration and disputes team to provide our clients and their advisers with expert advice in all legal aspects of their estate planning.

Commercially focused estate planning

Our philosophy is to work together with our clients and their accountants, financial planners and other advisers to create an estate planning strategy.

Publications

It is common for spouses to make mirror Wills to provide for each other and their children when they die. Often they gift their entire estate to each other, and if they do not survive each other, then to their children. This means that the survivor receives everything if one of them dies, and when the second person dies, the children of the relationship share equally in whatever is left of their parents’ joint estate.

The recent Victorian decision of Re Marsella; Marsella v Wareham (No 2) [2019] VSC 65, demonstrates what not to do as a trustee when paying a death benefit from a self-managed superannuation fund, and, very importantly, what not to do as a trustee’s adviser. The case is a perfect example of where specialist advice could have completely changed the outcome.